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Sunday, 5 August 2012

Olympic Medals .... Awards for Winning

Sport
was such an important social and political activity in ancient Greece – with representatives
from kingdoms and city states participating in a cycle of four sporting
festivals, known as the Panhellenic Games – each one honouring a Greek God.

Ruins of the Temple of Zeus, Olympia

The
Olympics is the oldest of such festivals held for the first time in 776BC in
honour of the Greek god Zeus at his sanctuary in Olympia.

The
principal events were chariot and horseracing, the Pentathlon (running,
wrestling, long-jump, javelin and discus), separate running, wrestling events
and also a footrace in full armour.

Ancient
coins record some of these events as well as the ‘trophies’ awarded to the
winners – such as laurel wreaths, olive garlands and amphorae of the finest
olive oil.

Ancient amphorae designed for marine transporttaken from shipwrecks of the Bronze Age

Much as
now, the home towns showered their sporting heroes with gifts and honoured them
for their victorious results.

For the
early modern Olympic Games in 1896 successful competitors were given a silver
medal and an olive branch, while runners up received a laurel branch and a
copper or bronze medal. In 1900 most
winners received cups or trophies instead of medals.

The
custom of the sequence of gold, silver and bronze for the first three places
dates from the 1904 Summer Olympics in St Louis, Missouri, USA and was applied
retroactively for the 1896 and 1900 Games.

Cassiterite - the main ore of tin

Medals
are not the only awards given to competitors; every athlete placed first to
eighth receives a diploma – while in Lausanne at the IOC’s museum the names of
all medal winners are written onto a wall.

Rock to
dust to Olympic Medals starts at the ‘ginormous’ Kennecott mine in Bingham
Valley, Utah that can be seen from space with a tiny extra amount of earth from
Rio Tinto’s Mongolian mine;

Church and pub at Zennor,with the sign of the Tinners' Arms

In all,
eight tonnes of gold, silver and copper, with a pinch of zinc from Australia and
a touch of tin from Cornwall will be extracted, refined, pummelled, hammered
and ultimately designed into gold, silver and bronze medals.

4,700
medals will be presented during a total of 302 victory ceremonies at the
Olympics and Paralympic Games.

This
year’s Olympic medals are among the heaviest ever to be created, each one
measuring 3.25 inches (8.25 cms) in diameter and weighing more than 14 oz (400
gms) ...

Gold Medal 2012 (front)

The
gold medal is predominantly silver that has been plated with gold, the silver
medal is mainly silver with some copper, while the bronze medal is made from
copper, tin and zinc.

The IOC
dictates the physical properties of the medals and has the final decision about
the finished design - this has been created by the Decorative Arts team of the
Royal Mint at Llantrisant, South Wales.

The
circular form is a metaphor for the world.
The front of the medal always depicts the same imagery at the Summer
Games: the Greek Goddess of Victory, Nike, stepping out from the Parthenon to
arrive in the host city.

The 2012
design for the reverse features five symbolic elements:

·an amphitheatre representing ancient Greece

·an architectural emblem as a metaphor for modern
life

·radiating lines of energy representing the
athletes’ efforts

·the River Thames in the background is a symbol
for London, with a fluttering baroque ribbon adding a sense of celebration

·the square draws the whole together emphasising
its focus on the centre ... reinforcing the sense of ‘place’ as in a map inset.

So
these medals – the weight of a can of baked beans! – have been on a long
journey too ... rock to dust, metals extracted, refined, transported as ingots,
button-sized pieces ... melted down again, moulded into blank discs ...

Dowlais Ironworks, South Walesby George Childs (1840)

...
which will have 22 more processing stages, including ten man-hours of work, before
becoming an Olympic medal ... then to hang around the necks of the 2012 achieving
Olympians ...

Those
early prizes for the winners at the Ancient Olympic Games were a wild-olive
tree branch intertwined to form a circle or a horseshoe, laurel wreaths, olive
garlands and amphorae of the finest olive oil ...

The olive wreath, also known asKotinos, the prize for the winnerof the ancient Olympic Games

...
have now evolved in 2012 into these magnificent medals for the three winners –
Gold, Silver and Bronze ... congratulations to all athletes on their successful
hard won achievements.

Dear Mr Postman ... I had a lovely time in
Scotland, learnt a lot, relaxed watching lots of Olympics and met up with a
wonderful family from times past ... all of which was an absolutely pleasure
... the 4.00 am start on Tuesday didn’t thrill me – but then I had nearly a
whole day when I arrived at this very historically interesting area – more to
follow.

What a great way to create these medals!! Amazing - what a journey - and after just watching the medal ceremony on BBC iplayer of wonderful Mo Farah, Rupp and Bekele as they touch and bite and play with their medals - it makes these medals come alive!!!

Hilary this kind of rounds this years Olympics for me...fascinating history you have uncovered here. I watched Mr Murray won tennis gold this AM and the Great Britain womens team pursuit take the gold last night. Most amazing so far is Mr Pistoris and his running "blades". I was blown away by two things, 1) how fast he could run with those prothesis and 2) that the Olympic Committee actually allowed him to participate...bravo for a great human decision! Glad you enjoyed Scotland.

@ Karen - that the customs are retained is so interesting .. and that we uncovered them and so know about them .. research is so amazing.

@ Diane - Scotland was good thank you .. I certainly didn't know some of the aspects of the medals .. the diploma for instance .. thank you I watched some Olympics!

@ Old Kitty - your phrase 'makes the medals come alive' is a great way of putting it. Not sure about this biting of the medals though .. I know in the old days you used to test metal this way .. like you - I'm enjoying the Olympics ..

@ Chuck - delighted this added an extra insight for you. I watched some of the tennis too - but do you know I missed seeing Oscar Pistorius run - and am not even sure how he did .. hope I can catch up.

Re the decision allowing him to run - it was a hard fought battle, but I'm so pleased he is allowed to participate. Scotland was fun.

@ Morning AJ - the post office are sure cashing in .. commemorative stamps (overnight) and then the gold post boxes - I saw them painting the one near Jess Ennis'home. It is a wonderful idea - that will make the sale of stamps go up! Love the post boxes though .. a Grand Tour that would make!

@ Jo - the olive oil would be worth its weight in gold nearly three millennia ago ... so you'd be on a good wicket. The baked bean can was an interesting snippet I picked up in Scotland!

More fascinating information, thanks Hilary. NZ has been doing well for a small country and we are thrilled to have won some gold medals. I'm not surprised that they are so heavy, and am most interested on how the medals developed, and how they are inscribed. I believe Britain is doing pretty well too.

Hilary, Kelly, Jim and I were talking just yesterday and wondering if the gold medal was real gold. Now I can tell them both..... "The gold medal is predominantly silver that has been plated with gold, the silver medal is mainly silver with some copper, while the bronze medal is made from copper, tin and zinc" and they will be duly impressed with me.

@ Juliet - I saw today .. how well you were doing in the medal table - they highlighted it on tv .. that you were above the Aussies in the medal table ... pity we didn't start with a bang - otherwise we'd be off the medal table! It's being amazing how things are turning out .. wonderful for all the sports.

@ Jannie - well great I can help the family with some info .. glad I bolstered the Jannie head with that info! Delighted Kelly is loving the gymnastics ...

@ Karen - delighted to read you're enjoying my few posts so far .. I'll try and add a few more this week. - Many thanks for your thoughts .. appreciate those.

@ Glynis - thanks so much .. it's fun imparting some of the unusual facts and stats re the Olympics ... As you say Team GB are doing pretty well aren't they!

Also the sportsmanship is something to behold ...

@ Teresa - honestly you wouldn't I haven't sat and watched them - I pick up bits and pieces and then perhaps catch an hour or so in the evening - stretching to two hours now the Athletics is on! I didn't even watch the tennis .. it's on in the background sometimes.

@ Clarissa - the mix of the medal is interesting - back in 1908 the medals were gold. The weight is a surprise isn't it ..

@ Karen - I thought I remembered you'd visited that ancient stadium - must have been amazing to be there ... I'm sure it was inspiring.

@ Betsy - it's fun isn't it - I love the sights we get to see .. the camera shots have been amazing.

It's fun having the BBC coverage - and in our time frame ..

@ Joylene - it's certainly heavy .. having a tin of baked beans around my neck would drag me to the floor - though I'd be very happy with a gold medal!!

Thanks everyone - lovely to see you .. I'm slowly on my way back to my Reader ... cheers Hilary

@ Susanne - it was lovely up in Scotland and I had great fun 'just being' .. The medals are superb aren't they ... despite their weight.

@ Richard - I don't think the Athens Games helped the Greek economy much if at all .. and their stadia are left unused ... the Brits appear to have learnt from this - and I hope the economy makes some money from our 2012 Games.

Hey Hilary,Sorry for not being by in a while...been road-tripping all summer, not doing a good job of keeping up with my current blog friends...Loved this history lesson - Jo sent me. Fascinating to learn what it takes to make a medal these days. I'm a history buff so I soaked up a lot from this. Thanks.

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About Me

A lover of life – who after London, spent time in South Africa; an administrator, sports lover, who enjoys cooking and entertaining ... who through her mother’s illness found a new passion – writing, in particular blogging; which provides an opportunity for future exploration, by the daughter, who has (in her 3rd age years) found a love of historical education. Curiosity didn’t kill this cat – interaction is the key! Now moved to Vancouver Island, Canada for 'a while' - not forever ...